Black Lights
by chaoticlivi
Summary: Laser tag is a fun diversion, but there are other things to do in the maze, too. This is an upload of a fic I wrote a long time ago.


**Hey everyone! This is very old, but I wanted to post it here because back-browsing on Tumblr is hard.**

* * *

Dammit. Maka was far too good. She was making a fool out of him.

She skirted around the corner with the kind of agility he usually only got to see in battle. Soul's laser missed her shoulder target by mere inches. Nose filled with the oddly sweet, smoky scent of manufactured fog, he decided to give chase, ignoring all of the other players' muffled shouts and chortles in the distance. He hugged the wall and carefully made his way around the same corner—

…When the laser-sensitive target on his chest lit up and buzzed. It also beeped loudly, signaling his failure, the second time he'd fallen to her this game.

(Maybe the third time he'd fallen to her in total.)

"Fuck!" he shouted, frustration growing.

"That's what you get, Soul!" Maka said from somewhere nearby in the labyrinth, singsong voice barely audible over the pulsing music and whoops of other players. Black Star and Liz's voices rang out particularly clear; they were probably arguing about something.

"That's what I get for what?" he fumed, scooting away from the mirror. Dammit. Mirrors. In his excitement about coming so close to catching her, he'd forgotten that lasers bounce off mirrors and she had used it to tag him to death.

"Oh, nothing…just for being in my way," she answered from much closer than he was expecting. He jumped and there she was behind him, grinning like the cat that ate all the cream, hand already getting ready to squeeze the trigger again.

"AH! No!" He dodged out of the way, crouching a bit and firing at the huge luminous target she wore. He missed and hit her gun instead. Good enough, because this time _her_ fake-laser-tag-armor lit up and beeped. He shot her a roguish grin, accented by the black lights, and ducked around the next corner while she growled in frustration. Hurriedly he sought another hiding spot, kneeling behind a corner.

"Hey!" she shouted, trying to pepper all the targets on his vest with laser shots from the hallway they'd just left. He pulled away just in time while he heard her say something incoherent over the sound of the game.

"What?!"

"I said no crouching!"

"But that's a lame rule."

Maka said something that Soul assumed was a threat, and then he couldn't see her anymore. Not the lights of her vest nor the buckles of her boots. This was nerve-racking. A few seconds later he just had time to dodge her aim again.

"How 'bout you go attack someone else?" Soul yelled plaintively. He knew it was futile.

"Hey, no one in this game has hit me except for you, Soul!"

"Uh, yeah, except you came after me first," he shot back, rounding a corner in reverse and unexpectedly bumping into someone else's back.

He whipped around and fired, hitting her squarely in the chest.

"Argh! Soul!" She looked him up and down and then decided to disappear into the fog again, turning her back while it still wouldn't matter.

He pursued her, but couldn't see anything. Great. And then, without warning, his vest lit up once again in a cacophony of forlorn beeps.

"Maka," he growled. He heard a giggle from one of the platforms above (she had meant for him to hear it; she was goading him), where she kneeled and smirked victoriously. "That does it."

He turned to run up the ramp after her and managed to dodge the mirror, but she popped out from behind a corner, nailing him once again with a bright red beam.

* * *

"Good game," Liz offered, extending a hand to Black Star, who grudgingly accepted it.

"You'll see! I'm gonna get you on the next round!"

"Yeah, sure," Liz answered. Tsubaki chuckled at her meister's indignant attitude.

"I didn't see Soul or Maka very much at all during the game," Kid observed. "But their scores are right in the middle of the board."

"Pfft. Dude. That's because they spent the whole game in their own little world over there. I couldn't bring myself to ruin the moment," Black Star said.

"She started it," Soul huffed, trying not to sound like he found it enjoyable that they had spent the whole game chasing each other down. It must have been convincing to everyone's ears but his own, because nobody gave him any strange looks.

Except Maka. She looked kind of smug.

"Everyone up for another round?" Patty asked excitedly.

"Does it have to be another Survivor round?" Liz grumbled.

"Yeah! Obviously, it's not worth playing for less than half an hour. You barely even get a chance to warm up," Black Star scoffed.

Ten minutes later, everyone headed back into the dark laser tag maze.

* * *

"Now you're just picking on me!" Soul yelled, making no effort whatsoever to disengage as he shot another laser into her chest.

"I see you firing right back," she said, boldly running toward him with a volley of shots before her vest lit up and beep-booped to announce her loss. She stopped about three feet in front of him, gun at the ready.

"Hey. You're out. Why are you still standing there? I'm just gonna get you again," Soul panted. Players who had been shot had about ten seconds of down time before they could tag or be tagged again.

"Not if I'm faster." The two stared into each other's eyes for a breathless moment, waiting for this showdown to play out and grinning audaciously. The lights on her vest returned to normal, and she pulled the trigger so fast he had no time to react.

"Gotcha," she grinned.

He scowled. "Fine then. I'll just stand here and—"

But Maka had already run around the corner.

"No! Wait! Dammit! Argh!" He bounded off after her, indiscriminately shooting lasers at her back. When the lights announced again that she had lost, she whirled around and got ready to move toward Soul - not realizing how close he already was.

Their pretend-armor made a loud clacking noise as they crashed into each other and immediately dodged away.

"Ouch! What the hell, Soul?!"

"What got into you today, Maka?" he mumbled, shaking out a slightly bruised arm.

"Huh?" She sounded genuinely confused. "I can't hear you over this stupid music!"

Soul took a few steps closer to her and shouted. "You haven't gone after anyone else. You keep chasing me!"

"O-oh." She shrugged. "Your hair sticks out like a sore thumb under the black lights."

"Yeah, okay." He stepped forward and fired again at her chest at almost point-blank range, taking her out in one hit.

"Jerk!" she said indignantly.

"You could leave me alone any time," he said.

"No, I couldn't." She shook her head. "Because then you'd come after me! You're the one who's been tailing me this whole time!" Before he could argue, she'd fired the laser gun once again, and his armor made that forlorn "game over" sound.

"Only because you started it," Soul repeated. This time his voice was a lot quieter because he really was only inches away.

Her thoughts, which had turned in…other directions, were interrupted by the beeping of her armor. Soul had not moved any further away; his toothy smirk, lit up by the black lights so his teeth matched his hair, hovered next to her face. "I guess if you're not gonna move, we'll just have to see who has the better reflexes," he continued. "I can stand here in your face all day!"

"Obviously I'm quicker. I'm a meister," she said.

He raised an eyebrow and shot her again.

"Argh! Soul! Stop it!"

"Hah. Make me!"

In retrospect, he'd probably said that hoping it would happen. But in the moment it was a complete and total surprise to see her huge green eyes so close, feel her lips touch his and linger warmly for just a moment before she pulled away. Absent-mindedly, he reached up and touched his mouth.

"S-see? How was that for _making_ you?" she asked, voice wavering nervously. They stared at each other for a few seconds more before she tagged him again, a kind of afterthought. He ignored the beeping sounds his vest was making in favor of walking toward her. They didn't break eye contact, and when Soul got close he found he wasn't sure if this was a mistake, something she hadn't intended to go any further than that one little moment. But he pushed himself the final distance anyway, leaning in to whisper.

She leaned closer, too.

"Okay. So maybe I was following you around just as much as you were following me."

"See?" she said. "And maybe I did start it. On purpose. To get your attention."

Soul grabbed her laser vest, giving it a gentle tug. "You know, before you did that, I was gonna suggest we try to team up," he murmured.

"Wha— really?!"

"Tch. Yeah. You didn't have to chase me with a gun to get my attention, Maka."

Fortunately the black lights couldn't pick up on blushing, because if they could, Maka would have been lit up like a Christmas tree. Hesitantly, Soul held her chin and guided it up to his face again, initiating another soft kiss.

And this time it lasted longer.

Clack. Click. Scrape. The laser tag equipment was seriously ruining the mood as they embraced. That would never do; off came the vests, despite vest-less players being entirely against the rules.

Their hands wandered up and down each other's backs; he pulled her close against him and she ran her fingers through his hair even as he ran his tongue gingerly against her lips. She let him in. The music - obnoxious and loud though it was - pulsed in their ears, and each vaguely wondered if someone would find them.

They didn't care.

In fact, all of the sound and fog blocked out the world, making them feel as if they were on their own. Without even thinking about it Soul found his hands on her butt; he barely had time to worry about how she would react when he felt her grabbing his own ass. It made him smirk.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"'S'nice," he answered gruffly.

She responded by kissing him along his jaw line. Surprised at how satisfying it felt, she continued while he closed his eyes. Her warm, soft lips made their way to his earlobe, which she kissed and nuzzled gently before teasing it just a little with the tip of her tongue. He shivered and embraced her tightly, moving his hands to rub along her shoulder blades, then kissed her neck. He lavished all his attention on a few spots along the side and close to the back, trying very carefully not to leave any marks.

It was difficult, though, not to get entirely caught up.

Maka arched her body toward him reflexively and sighed in contentment. "Soul." She brought his forehead to rest against hers.

As if on cue, the lights came on. The music stopped. The vests flashed from where they had been cast on the floor. Time to go. They held hands on the way out, a silent promise that this would continue later.

* * *

**Thanks to MarshofSleep for reminding me that I should have acknowledged their armor.**


End file.
